“ . . . and I would be grateful if you would pass this message to the skipper of FFG 47, and to any of the DD 449’s crew who may be present: Admiral Halsey directed that Nicholas and O’Bannon be present in Tokyo Bay for Japan’s surrender because of their valorous fight up the long road from the South Pacific to the very end.

“The old-timers of DD 449 left a legacy of courage and fighting skill as an inspiration to FFG 47, a legacy which FFG 47 must strive to emulate.”

— Admiral “Mick” Carney, former Chief of Naval Operations and President of Bath Iron Works, in a letter to Vice Admiral R.T.S. Keith (Nicholas’s third CO), read by William Haggett, President of Bath Iron Works at the commissioning of USS Nicholas (FFG 47), 10 March 1984.